Can I Wash It: Boat and Tote Edition

April 13, 2019 11:45 AM

I love this bag, but if I can't machine wash it, that's a dealbreaker (eeew). Can waxed canvas and leather be machine washed?
posted by onecircleaday to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

Best answer: No, sorry. You will ruin that bag if you wash it. Neither leather nor waxed canvas are washable.
posted by jacquilynne at 11:51 AM on April 13, 2019 [3 favorites]

The page showing a waxed canvas and leather bag says "spot clean". I think you'd be able to use a soapy rag to wash and then rinse the canvas, and a leather cleaning solution to clean the leather parts, but no, if the canvas is washed the wax will probably flake off with agitation, or melt in hot water.

But I'd call LL Bean. They are the experts and have extremely helpful personnel. And they take back anything for a full refund.
posted by citygirl at 2:25 PM on April 13, 2019

You'd ruin the bag and the washing machine. My dad was in the rag trade during the 80s "Barbour" coat fad, and his company would get irate calls from people with gunked-up washing machines all the time.
posted by scruss at 8:31 PM on April 13, 2019

Response by poster: Thanks everyone. I'm looking at the original Boat and Tote instead. The instructions for the original say spot clean, but I see some bloggers have machine washed with success. I don't plan on washing it immediately or often, but once or twice a year would be nice.
posted by onecircleaday at 6:07 AM on April 15, 2019